Blakell Europlacer – Boiler Replacement and LED Lighting Project

Blakell Europlacer is a surface mount equipment manufacturer with a high energy consumption and costly electricity bills.  In a bid to reduce their energy use and improve the quality of lighting and comfort of staff, this Poole based business installed 92 high efficient LED light fittings, and replaced an old boiler with a highly efficient new fully-condensing gas boiler. These measures alone have saved them thousands of pounds a year and reduced their carbon footprint by nearly 40%!

Concerned about energy being wasted through old lights and heating, Blakell Europlacer contacted Low Carbon Dorset for help to fund more efficient replacements.

Low Carbon Dorset’s technical officer Erik visited their factory and offices in Poole to assess all energy saving opportunities for the firm.  From this visit Erik was able to produce an energy saving report specific to Blakell Europlacer which confirmed LED lighting and a boiler upgrade as the two top measures which would make the company the largest savings in both their bills and carbon emissions.

117 old light fittings (including high bay lights, floodlights, panel lighting and spotlights) were replaced with 92 highly efficient LED light fittings.  This swap alone is estimated to save Blakell Europlacer £10,830 a year on electricity costs, and 35 tonnes of CO₂! The lights and fitting cost £24k – with a 40% grant from Low Carbon Dorset this was reduced to £14,630.  At this cost it will take just over a year for the LEDs to pay for themselves!

Existing heating in the factory and offices was powered by a relatively inefficient HMS Regency Slimline boiler (efficiency estimated at around 75%).  This was replaced by an Ideal Commercial Evomax 80kW fully condensing gas boiler which is estimated at 107.5% efficient when fully condensing. As the boiler will never be able to run continuously in condensing mode its efficiency has been estimated at 95%.  Replacing the boiler cost £6,395 and will reduce Blakell Europlacer’s carbon emissions by a further 2.6 tonnes of CO₂ a year and save around £500 a year on bills.

Further recommendations to reduce energy use and carbon emissions included investigating the possibility of installing solar PV panels on the factory roof.  The factory and offices’ high energy demand during the day means financial and energy savings would be likely.